he adventures of the Star Traveler Andromeda that started in Among the Stars, Beyond the Farthest Planet, and So Far From Home, continues in the final chapter The Voyage Home.
CHAPTER 4 A
"Report." Kate ordered as she stepped of the lift.
"The Gamma shift Lieutenant moved out of the command chair. "Captain since I called you those massed have moved up and are now approximately one hundred ninety thousand kilometers away. In addition they have divided up into three groups. Two are heading toward our aft section and we can now make out propulsion signatures."
"Who the Hell are they? Have they tried to contact us?"
"No ma'am."
"As long as they do not threaten us, there is nothing we can do." Kate thought for a minute. "Bridge to all senior officers, including Colonel Anderson, Majors Taggart and Williams, report to the conference room in thirty minutes." Kate looked around the Bridge. Every face was watching her.
"Captain, sensors are showing those masses are now on three sides. They are not coming any closer."
"Keep me posted. I will be in my ready room until the meeting." Kate entered into her sanctuary and headed directly to the replicator. "Coffee black" she said and grabbed the mug as soon as it materialized. The chime sounded at the door. "Come in." She called out.
Anya walked in with a covered plate. "I brought your breakfast. You may have time to eat before the meeting."
"Thank you darling." Kate took the cover off the plate and sat behind the desk to eat. "This is going to be one long day."
"Have you decided to send the flyers out?"
"Yes but only those with cloaking devices. But..." She paused.
"Kacey may send her people and decide to stay here."
"She has been pushing for this." Kate stated between bites. "There is no way she will remain behind."
"Have faith, Kate. She may have reevaluated her priorities after her last injury."
"Do you really think that is true?"
Anya shrugged. "I want to believe it. If she decides to go with her people, would you order her not to?"
"No I cannot and will not do that to her. I will just have to trust her to make that decision and hope it is the right one for everyone."
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Kate sat at the head of the conference table as her senior officers filed in. Kacey took her seat on Kate's left with Liam on her right. Within minutes all the seats were filled. Each person helped themselves to coffee or tea that was on the side counter before they sat down.
"Let's begin." Kate stated. "Those masses that have been our shadows for the past four days are now about one hundred seventy five thousand kilometers from us and have move to three sides, port, starboard and aft. There have been no overt acts. We will try hailing them after this meeting. Bella are there any problems with the engines sustaining a prolong speed of nine point five?"
"Define prolonged?"
"Say for two hours?"
"I would not try it for longer than two hours. The ride could get bumpy at that point."
"That might be all we would need."
"Kate the smaller ships would not be able to keep up. Their top speed in warp nine."
"If it comes to that all the ships will be onboard first."
"Rhea I would need you to keep a very close eyes on those masses and keep our weapons locked onto them."
"Certainly, Kate."
"Anya, I need you to plot us a course that will take us safely away from this area."
"Of course Kate."
"What do you need us to do Kate?" Kacey asked.
"Since we have no information on those masses, I need the shuttles and stingers with cloaking capabilities to get as close as possible to those masses and relay any information back to Andromeda."
"You want us to go to them? You did say they were one hundred seventy five thousand kilometers away."
"Can the ships handle the range?"
"Of course they can."
"How long will it take them to reach the masses?"
"At top speed about thirty minutes. We can launch immediately after this meeting."
"Good, the sooner we know who we are dealing with the better."
"Mike take one third of the cloaked stingers and take the masses on the port side. Dan you do the same on the starboard side and Jere the remaining third and check out those aft of us. I will take half the remaining stingers and surround Andromeda." Kate's jaw dropped in stunned disbelief. "Do you have a problem with that Kate?"
"No, not at all. Will all the ships around Andromeda be visible?"
"Yes. Only my shuttle will have the cloaking device, I will not use it."
"How many stingers will you have?"
Kacey thought for a minute. "Fifteen. We will use the Alpha and beta squads and leave the gamma here. They have been out all night. One other thing, stay off the radios. Use your computers and the code we worked on. Send all information to me. I will decode and send it to the Bridge. We can be ready to go in thirty minutes."
"Then let's do it. Dismissed." The officers stood up and filed out. Kate walked to Kacey's side. "I will be in the Hanger. Dad you have the Bridge."
The Marines and Kate entered the lift. Kacey touched her communicator. "All Alpha and Beta shift pilots report to the Hanger immediately." The left the lift. "Mike I will be in my office. Let me know when everyone arrives."
"Roger, Kacey."
Mike left the two women and headed to his shuttle. They continued to Kacey's office. "Excuse me while I put on my flight suit. Help yourself to coffee." Kacey said as she headed into the bathroom. She came out a short time later carrying her boots. Kacey sat behind her desk to put her boots on. "So tell me, Kate, why did I rate an escort today?"
"No particular reason."
"Come on Kate, what is on your mind?"
"All right, I just wanted to ask you to be careful and not take chances out there."
"I will do my best, Kate. Before you ask why I am not leading the charge, I will explain. Once this journey is over, my officers will no longer be under me. It is time they show what they can do without me. That and it also keeps the pilots on their toes."
"Colonel the pilots are here."
"Thanks Mike, I will be right out to talk to them." They walked out of the office to where the pilots waited. "Mike as soon as the Gamma squads land, I want you to launch first. As soon as your whole squad has launched, activate your cloaks. Jere, your squad will launch five minutes later and Dan five minutes after that. Stay off your radios. Use your computers. Squad one use Epsilon one, squad two ,Epsilon two, squad three, Epsilon three to let your people know where you are. Get as close as possible to those masses. Use whatever mean necessary to protect your selves. Scan the masses and find out what their weapons are, their propulsion and if possible what their top speed is. Relay all information to your squad leaders who will in turn report to Colonel Anderson. He will report directly to me in code. I will talk to the Bridge. This is only a recon mission. Those ships without cloaking devices will be with me and Lieutenant Chen. We will handle the protection of Andromeda." She turned to Kate. "Anything you would like to add?"
"Be careful out there. We do not know anything about those masses. No heroics, understand. Each and everyone of you are valuable members of this crew and I am proud to serve with you. All yours Colonel."
"Get your preflight done now. We start the launch in ten minutes. Dismissed."
The pilots moved towards their fighters. Kate placed her hand on Kacey's arm. "That goes for you also. Be careful out there. No heroics. That is an order."
"You have my word Kate. There will be no heroics." She met Kate's eyes and smiled before going to her shuttle."
CHAPTER 4 B
Kacey started her shuttle and waited for the squads to launch. She taxied into position. Before she made the turn into launch position she spied Kate behind the air lock doors. Smiling, she saluted Kate and continued the turn. The stingers lined up behind her.
"Stingers one through five take the starboard side. Six through ten, you are on the port side with eleven through fifteen aft. I will be directly in front if Andromeda." Kacey waited several minutes to give the cloaked ships time to move out of the way. "Here we go ladies and gentlemen. Shamrock to the Lieutenant Minor. Keep it nice and steady, I will be about a meter in front of you."
"Roger Colonel." The pilot responded.
Kacey released the brake and shot out of the Hanger. She quickly took her position off the bow while the stingers took up their positions. Kate took her seat in the command chair and kept her eyes glued to the view screen.
"Keep a very close eye on the computer readouts Epsilon five. The stingers will be maintaining radio silence and relaying any coded information to Kacey's computer. She will decode and send the information to us, and will be the only one using the radio."
"Understood Captain."
"The Stingers are two thousand kilometers away." Rhea reported.
"What about those masses?"
"They are still on three sides and slowly closing the distance between us and are now one hundred fifty thousand kilometers away. I have sent Kacey that information."
"Shamrock to Andromeda. Do you have any orders?"
"Hold your positions and wait until the squads report in. There have been no overt actions so we will wait." Kacey looked directly at the camera. "For now." Kate finished. Kacey nodded.
The tension level started to increase as they waited for the cloaked ships to reach their objectives and report in. With each passing minute, the tension increased until the air around them almost pulsed. Kacey kept a close eye on her computer readouts that told her where the cloaked ships were located.
"The ships are within fifty thousand kilometers from the masses." Rhea reported. "They should reach their objective in three minutes."
"Captain, I am getting a message from Colonel O'Malley." The communication officer reported. Kate motioned for him to continue. "Mike reports that they are picking up traces of propulsion signatures emitting from the masses."
"Which means whoever they are, they are using the masses as a disguise." Kate stated. "Continue."
"They will try to get under and past the masses to get more information."
"Andromeda to Shamrock."
"Go ahead Kate."
"We received your message."
"Good. Kate I have been thinking."
"That may or may not be a good thing." Anya stated with a smile.
"Ha, ha, ha, thanks a lot Anya."
"I could not resist, Kacey. You left yourself wide open."
"What have you thought about?" Kate broke into the conversation.
"Remember back to our first year to that xenophobic race we ran into on our way to Saturn."
"I remember them. They lived inside asteroids."
"Those are the ones."
"They only wanted to be left alone. Why bring them up now?"
"I have noticed from the images being sent is that these masses greatly resemble those others."
"Pull those images and put them up on the view screen." Kacey's image shifted to the corner as the view of the two sets of masses filled the screen. Kate studied the images. "What am I looking for?" She asked
"Those masses are the same size and shape as the original ones. What about the composition?"
"Rhodium, Iron, nickel and cobalt in the same percentages." Anya answered.
"That civilization just wanted to be left alone." Kate argued.
"What are the chances that two civilizations millions of kilometers apart would be hiding in asteroids that have the exact composition?"
"What could have caused a pacifist civilization to change so dramatically in three years?" Natalia asked.
"That is an excellent question."
"They could have been lying Katie." Liam stated. "To lure unsuspecting ships into a trap."
"That would have to be a very big trap dad."
"Hold on Kate. Dad may be right." Kacey stated. "We believed what they told us." Kacey looked at her computer. "Hold on a minute, I am getting an update." She watched the computer screen for several minutes. as she decoded the information. "We have a problem. For all intents and purposes, those are disguised war ships. They have fusion pulse canons that are electron charged."
"Electron charged pulse will go through our shields as if they were not there." Rhea reported.
"What about their shields? Would our weapons have any effect?" Kate asked.
"If we get very lucky, their shields are... wait that cannot be right." Kacey stated.
"Kacey what about their shields?"
"Hang on Kate." They could hear the rattle of computer keys. "Damn it Kate, they have chronaton shields with a revolving frequency. Our weapons will not penetrate them. Our only hope is speed. Their top speed is warp six."
"Recall all ships. We are getting out of here." Kate ordered. "Red alert."
"I have already recalled the ships. Their ETA is fifteen minutes at top speed."
"Understood. Anya plot us a course out of here and send the coordinates directly to the helm."
"Already in process Kate."
"Bridge to engineering."
"Go ahead Bridge."
"Bella we are going to need the engines for top speed."
"They are humming and ready to go Captain. You give the word."
"Course laid in and sent to the helm." Anya reported.
"Rich as soon as the ships have landed hit the gas."
"Yes ma'am."
"Keep watching the distance of those masses." Kate ordered. "Kacey, where are we in getting the flyers back?"
"A few more minutes Kate. The ships will remain cloaked until they enter the hanger."
"If they are cloaked how the hell can they avoid colliding with each other?" Kate asked.
"Relax Kate. They land by stinger number. We know what we are doing out here."
"That makes sense. I apologize for questioning you."
"Accepted. The first of the cloaked ships are approaching the Hanger." Kacey reported.
"Captain those masses are one hundred thousand kilometers. Look like they are making their move."
"Kacey step on it, they are closing in."
"They are powering up their weapons."
"Kacey we are out of time. Get your people out of the way and head for coordinates four three seven two point six one. Warp nine."
"Understood. All ships head to those coordinates warp nine. Close Hanger doors." Kacey ordered. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's get the Hell out of here. We will meet up in one hour."
"Be careful and good luck." Kate ordered, as the smaller ships streaked off. "Hit the gas Rich." Andromeda picked up speed. They felt a hit against their hull and knew they had been fired on.
"The shield are weakened but holding." Rhea reported. The console in front of her exploded and spread to the Navigation console. The explosions caused Anya, Rhea and Natalia to fly backwards into the bulk head. Burns covering their hands and faces where they collapsed. Their tunics burned in several places. Kate flew from her chair and hit the railing.